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Mobile talk gets costlier

Cabinet okays Ipc surcharge; 2-yr jail for child marriage

Staff Correspondent
Using mobile phones is going to be costlier as the government yesterday decided to introduce one percent surcharge on calls and other uses of the device.
The amount raised will be spent on education and healthcare. The decision came at the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The decision will come into force upon publication of a gazette in this regard.
The cabinet also approved in principle the Child Marriage Prevention Act, 2014 with a provision
of up to two years' imprisonment and a fine ofTk 50,000 each on the bride, groom, marriage organisers and parents concerned.
The latest surcharge, applicable to voice calls, text and multimedia messages and data services, will be an add-on for the subscribers who currently pay 15 percent value added tax on their total bills.
For instance, when a subscriber now loads Tk 100 in his phone account, he gets credit forTk 85 and the rest of the amount is deducted as VAT. With the introduction of the new surcharge, another Tk 1 will be adjusted from the subscriber's recharge amount and he will get credit forTk 84.
Earlier, the government at the beginning of the current fiscal year had slapped one percent surcharge on import of mobile handsets.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said a mobile phone user spends Tk 200 per month on an
average.
All SIM and RIM card users will have to pay the surcharge and the government will earn about Tk 140 crore a year from the proposed surcharge. Mobile phone operators will be responsible for paying the surcharge, he added.
About the proposed child marriage prevention act, the cabinet secretary said the bride, bridegroom, their guardians and marriage orgainisers will be held responsible for any underage marriage.
If the offender happens to be a woman, she will only have to pay the fine, he pointed out.
Linder the existing law enacted in 1929, offenders of child marriage get a maximum of three months' jail and are fined Tk 1,000.
The proposed law has a provision of forming early marriage prevention committees composed of civil society members, NGO representatives and government officials at district, upazila and union levels.
Executive magistrates will enforce the law and Family Courts will deal with cancellation of child marriages, mentioned the secretary.
The proposed law stipulates that girls under 18 and boys under 21 will not be eligible for marriage. The cabinet, however, suggested reducing the age limits considering the socioeconomic condition of the country, said Musharraf.
The meeting approved in principle the draft of the Customs Act, 2014, which will be a revised and up-to-date version of the existing law of 1969.
The draft of the new law, said the secretary, has been prepared incorporating all previous amendments to the law and related international rules.
The law, however, will be in force on July 1, 2016 as it would require huge preparatory measures including modification of other related laws and rules and formulation of a number of new laws in some cases, he added.